Initially known as (136472) 2005 FY9, it was discovered on March 31,
2005 by the team led by Michael Brown, and its discovery was announced
on July 29, 2005. On June 11, 2008, the IAU included Makemake in its
list of potential candidates to be given "plutoid" status, a term for dwarf
planets beyond the orbit of Neptune that would place the object alongside
Pluto and Eris. Makemake was formally classified as a plutoid in July 2008

Its diameter is roughly three-quarters that of Pluto. The designation 2005
FY9 was given to Makemake when the discovery was made public. Before
that, the discovery team used the codename "Easterbunny" for the object
because of the discovery time shortly after Easter